Part of that is that New York has proved to be too much fun for me to live and work; I love New York so much.

I was just restless with being in school; so I went out to Los Angeles.

It was kind of enlightening to become a playwright.

But here's the thing: what you do as a screenwriter is you sell your copyright. As a novelist, as a poet, as a playwright, you maintain your copyright.

I did write a couple of original screenplays, but I'd rather write plays.

The next thing I wrote was in a writing class at night school. It was about a poor woman who worked at a dime store and who was all alone for Christmas in Laurel, Mississippi.

That was always my inclination, to start on a new play before the other one gets done, because at least you'll have something to go back to if that play gets trashed.